The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops have fired off
a bombshell letter, vowing to fight and resist any
encroachment of their religious liberty by the federal or state
governments.

This could be a major headache for Obama this summer.

"To be Catholic and American should mean not having to choose one
over the other," the letter states at the beginning before
reciting a litany of complaints about the religious liberty of
Catholics being under assault.

Among them:

The HHS mandate for contraception, sterilization, and
abortion-inducing drugs - that requires Catholic institutions
(hospitals, schools, charities) to pay for things they believe
are objectively sinful.

State immigration laws that prohibit Catholic organizations
from giving any material aid (like food or shelter) to illegal
immigrants.

State attempts to "alter Church structure and
governance" such as the one proposed in Connecticut in 2009 that
would force a congregationalist model on the Catholic Church,
destroying the ability of bishops to govern individual
parishes.

Clampdowns Catholic foster care and adoption services for not
complying with federal standards of non-discrimination (usually
over homosexual adopters).

Discrimination against Catholic humanitarian services in
federal grants (usually over their refusal to refer victims of
sex-trafficking directly to abortion providers).

The larger intellectual case the bishops are making here is
summed up toward the end of the letter: that the free exercise of
religion is being defined down to a bare "freedom of worship."
That is, religious people are allowed to think and pray as they
want in their homes and churches, but they cannot follow the
dictates of their conscience when they provide services to the
public.

To help Catholics in the pews involved, the letter encourages all
parishes to take time during the time period between June
21—the vigil of the Feasts of St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More—to July 4,
Independence Day to speak out about issues of religious liberty.

The letter casts this resistance in the most serious terms,
"we also urge that the Solemnity of Christ the King—a
feast born out of resistance to totalitarian incursions against
religious liberty—be a day specifically employed by bishops and
priests to preach about religious liberty, both here and
abroad."

The Church and its conservative allies were initially
winning the war over federally-mandated contraception coverage,
but the Obama administration's accommodation and the Rush
Limbaugh-Sandra Fluke episode turned public opinion in favor of
the administration.

This letter is evidence that the Church is very serious
about getting the momentum back before the contraception mandate
takes effect next year, and before this fall's
election.